


Chatterbox

by Maria_Laney



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:41:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26732305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maria_Laney/pseuds/Maria_Laney
Summary: Nothing ever really gets to Mush. When something does, and the usual "don't listen to him" doesn't work, Blink has no clue what to do.
Relationships: Kid Blink/Mush Meyers
Kudos: 21





	Chatterbox

“Can I ask you somethin’?” Mush said, crossing his arms over the stone parapet at the edge of the roof. They’d been up there for a while. Blink told him it was because he didn’t want to smoke alone. That was partly true, but also partly because Blink noticed Mush had seemed lethargic all day, which was not like him at all.

“Sure you can,” Blink replied amiably enough, taking a puff on his cigarette. He deliberately declined mentioning that Mush ought to have known he could ask Blink anything without requesting permission first.

Mush didn’t reply right away. When Blink looked over, Mush was looking down and playing with the buttons sewn into the cuffs on his jacket sleeve. 

“Do you think I talk too much?”

Blink couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him all too quickly. He regretted it immediately, seeing the genuine frown that appeared on Mush’s lips.

“I don’t think you talk too much. I think you don’t talk enough, even,” Blink retorted when he realized it wasn’t a joke, almost defensive, but not against Mush. “Who told you that?”

“Nobody said it, but they’s all thinking it, huh Kid?”

When Blink gave him an even more incredulous look, Mush decided to elaborate. “Crutchy said that’s what everybody thinks about me.”

Blink huffed, taking another long drag to mask the anger festering in his gut.

“Don’t you listen to him. You know what Crutchy’s full of?”

Mush shrugged, abandoning the opportunity to say something reproachful. Blink supposed that _was_ like Mush.

“Listen to me,” Blink said, stomping out his smoke to grab Mush by the shoulders. “Nobody thinks that. If they did, I’d know about it. And if I knew about it, you think I wouldn’t bust their skulls in, huh?”

“I guess not,” was all Mush said.

“No. I would. Okay? So just forget about Crutchy. He doesn’t know what he’s talkin’ about half the time, anyway.”

Blink wasn’t necessarily lying. It wasn’t wrong if he was sparing Mush’s feelings.

Mush nodded. He didn’t look very convinced. Blink didn’t know why this was getting to him so much. It wasn’t even that mean a thing to say--Mush was always the one talking Blink down from irrational arguments over meaningless statements. Even though Mush clearly didn’t feel like arguing with anybody, Blink was still consoling him.

The problem with Mush was that he wasn’t the most perceptive guy in the lodging house. He didn’t always realize when the others were making fun of him. Blink got mad on his behalf, and Mush calmed him down without even understanding exactly what had set him off in the first place. If Crutchy _only_ told him all the fellas think he talks too much, Mush wouldn’t be acting this way. 

Blink’s heart sank at the possibility all the things his friends said about Mush behind his back finally got through to him.

Blink gave Mush’s shoulders a gentle shake before letting go. “We should go on a walk.”

“It’s cold tonight.” Mush slumped over the parapet, peering down into the alleyway several stories below. “We should go back inside probably.”

It wasn’t dark yet. The sky was grey and swirling with pale clouds, the type that didn’t bring rain or snow or anything dreary. They just blocked out the setting sun and made everything comfortably gloomy. October was supposed to feel like that. 

“Or we could stay up here,” Blink suggested instead, because the thought of Mush being around anyone who wasn’t him was promptly disheartening. “While there’s still light out, anyway.”

Mush didn’t make any move to leave so long as Blink didn’t. He purposefully took a long time getting through his second cigarette, offering more than once for Mush to have a drag, but he didn’t want to. There was no mindlessly pleasant conversation that Mush carried all by himself, no remarks about his day or any funny thoughts that popped into his head. Blink swore that he was going to ring Crutchy’s neck just as soon as he laid eyes on the bastard.


End file.
